Potential All-Ireland winner could get relegated: Cody

By Peter McNamara

Such is its competitiveness of the Allianz NHL Division 1A this term that a potential All-Ireland winner will be relegated, as Brian Cody explained on Saturday night.

Cody had just witnessed his defending league champions, Kilkenny, overcome Cork at Páirc Uí Rinn, 1-22 to 2-17 and reiterated how intense the standard is within the top-tier of the secondary competition.

Kilkenny led 1-11 to 0-12 at half-time however with Walter Walsh and Richie Hogan particularly effective, powered into a 1-19 to 0-14 advantage after Mark Kelly nailed his third of four points in open play in the 53rd minute.

Still, the Cats had to withstand a late Cork rally which included a goal from substitute Luke O’Farrell before securing the two-point victory.

Cody’s side, though, were foreseen in some quarters as potential strugglers in the division before the match, as bizarre as that reads.

Yet, Cody intimated he understood why some commentators were questioning their ability to be competitive again at this point in the season given the number of players unavailable to him.

“The reality is, the threat of relegation is still there even though this is a really huge win for us,” Cody said. “Last year, I think we might have lost our first two and came back to win the league in the end.

“This is just one game down, one game won and we are absolutely delighted to have the two points in the bag, there is no doubt about that.

“We have tough games coming up though in the next couple of weeks, starting with Dublin next Saturday so the plan is to continue to be competitive but it is going to be a battle at the same time.”

And a battle royal at that, between six of the probable front-runners for All-Ireland success, as Cody explains.

“It is hugely, hugely competitive. The reality of the situation is that a really good team is going to be relegated.

“Every team in the division is a really, really strong team. Each team in Division 1A are potential All-Ireland winners, not to mention league winners so someone has to be relegated and we are not in any different position to the rest of the teams,” he mused.

Kilkenny had a number of positive performances throughout their side, the aforementioned Hogan representing their leading attacking light again – the 2014 GAA/GPA Hurler of the Year delivered 0-11 (0-7 frees, 0-1 65).

However, Cody agreed corner-forward Mark Kelly, scorer of 0-4, was also incredibly impressive.

“Mark was very decent. Those were four good points, too. He got a lot of game-time last year but he is a player that will want to push on now,” he added.